Premier AP worth it for after 4 pm EP?

[Dizney73]

Our 2020 trips to Disney were cancelled. We did not renew our Disney Annual Passes. We have LOTS of DVC points to use so we booked DVC hotels for Thanksgiving and Christmas 2021. Our kids will be 16 and 12 and after all those years of doing Disney want to go to Universal parks instead of Disney. Totally understandable and so we have decided to buy Universal Annual Passes.
We will be staying in our DVC resorts (already booked) and our teens are NOT early risers. During the busy holiday seasons would the Premier AP be worth it just for the after 4 pm EP?

Our other thought was to purchase the Preferred passes and use the extra money saved to book a Premier hotel room for just one night during each trip. This would, however, leave us with NO EP for all the other days of our trips.

Advise? What would you recommend? Thanks so much for your help... I can see the value of both scenarios and just can't decide.

 

[J'aime Paris]

Our 2020 trips to Disney were cancelled. We did not renew our Disney Annual Passes. We have LOTS of DVC points to use so we booked DVC hotels for Thanksgiving and Christmas 2021. Our kids will be 16 and 12 and after all those years of doing Disney want to go to Universal parks instead of Disney. Totally understandable and so we have decided to buy Universal Annual Passes.
We will be staying in our DVC resorts (already booked) and our teens are NOT early risers. During the busy holiday seasons would the Premier AP be worth it just for the after 4 pm EP?

Our other thought was to purchase the Preferred passes and use the extra money saved to book a Premier hotel room for just one night during each trip. This would, however, leave us with NO EP for all the other days of our trips.

Advise? What would you recommend? Thanks so much for your help... I can see the value of both scenarios and just can't decide.

I'll give it a go to try and offer help....but everything is subject to change given the circumstances of 2020/21

The after 4pm EP hasn't been a great deal currently, since park hours have been reduced. Given you're traveling at Thanksgiving and Christmas, the hours should be extended...hopefully, so it could be a decent deal.

Reports that parks reached capacity quite a bit during the Thanksgiving/Xmas holidays. If you are not staying on Universal property, you may not be able to enter a park.
Sometimes the parks hit capacity before 10am.(not sure how late your teens sleep) Universal gives priority for entry to hotel guests.

If it were me, I'd book 2 individual/spaced night stays. I'd stay 2 nights at Thanksgiving and 2 nights at Christmas at one of the hotels that offer unlimited EP.

Each individual night gives you 2 days of unlimited EP....
For instance, book a Monday night stay, you'll have unlimited EP from the time the parks open on Monday until they close on Tuesday.
Then I'd book a Thursday night stay, and you'll have unlimited EP from park open Thursday until park close on Friday.
You can get 4 days of unlimited EP for 2 nights individual bookings. Plus, you'll have the priority access if the parks hit capacity for 4 days. And you can save by booking the rooms at an AP rate!

I hope I explained that decently.....

 

[Dizney73]

I'll give it a go to try and offer help....but everything is subject to change given the circumstances of 2020/21

The after 4pm EP hasn't been a great deal currently, since park hours have been reduced. Given you're traveling at Thanksgiving and Christmas, the hours should be extended...hopefully, so it could be a decent deal.

Reports that parks reached capacity quite a bit during the Thanksgiving/Xmas holidays. If you are not staying on Universal property, you may not be able to enter a park.
Sometimes the parks hit capacity before 10am.(not sure how late your teens sleep) Universal gives priority for entry to hotel guests.

If it were me, I'd book 2 individual/spaced night stays. I'd stay 2 nights at Thanksgiving and 2 nights at Christmas at one of the hotels that offer unlimited EP.

Each individual night gives you 2 days of unlimited EP....
For instance, book a Monday night stay, you'll have unlimited EP from the time the parks open on Monday until they close on Tuesday.
Then I'd book a Thursday night stay, and you'll have unlimited EP from park open Thursday until park close on Friday.
You can get 4 days of unlimited EP for 2 nights individual bookings. Plus, you'll have the priority access if the parks hit capacity for 4 days. And you can save by booking the rooms at an AP rate!

I hope I explained that decently.....

You explained it perfectly! I was wondering if priority was given to their hotel guests. You have convinced me 100% to get the Preferred passes and use the extra $ to book the hotel rooms!
That, of course, leads me to another question... how far out can I book rooms with the AP rate? I think I recall it being fairly close to the stay... a month or two maybe?

 

[J'aime Paris]

You explained it perfectly! I was wondering if priority was given to their hotel guests. You have convinced me 100% to get the Preferred passes and use the extra $ to book the hotel rooms!
That, of course, leads me to another question... how far out can I book rooms with the AP rate? I think I recall it being fairly close to the stay... a month or two maybe?

I would secure the rooms now for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, as long as you already know your dates.
Typically, the AP rates come out a couple months in advance. There is a sticky on this board that tracks them, and its quite helpful too.
You can then modify your existing reservations to the AP rates when available.

Have 2 super trips!!!

 

[macraven]

Like J’aime said book when the ap rates are available for your date

Just because you have an ap is not a guarantee you can get the ap room rate.

Rooms can be limited for that discounted rate

 

[Dizney73]

Thank you so very much!

 

[shawthorne44]

But go ahead and book the rooms now. You don't know if there will be rooms available at all for those high crowd days.
I'd originally thought of an early Feb trip when I was tempted by the PH rates. After I thought for a couple of days, not only was the passholder rate gone, but there weren't ANY rooms at Royal Pacific. So, now we are going late April.

 

[cfoxga]

But go ahead and book the rooms now. You don't know if there will be rooms available at all for those high crowd days.
I'd originally thought of an early Feb trip when I was tempted by the PH rates. After I thought for a couple of days, not only was the passholder rate gone, but there weren't ANY rooms at Royal Pacific. So, now we are going late April.

I've made the same mistake. I now book immediately and change later if necessary...